2nd gen rear setup question

First post, new LT owner. I bought this 06 DCSB already built and it has traction bars on it. For the life of me I cannot figure out why, and don't see them as a necessity. I'm wanting to start building rock sliders but these are in the way. Can ANYONE see a reason they need to be on this truck? It has the TRD supercharger and a shift kit but it's still not like I'm going to wrap the axle or anything. It's SOA as you should see in the pic.

My plans are more rock and trail riding than any jumping... Any experience and advice is appreciated!

 

Most here dont run traction bars, especially LT people.

I cant see a reason that the truck should need them unless the rear leafs are super worn, making them very axle wrap prone.

Id take it off, set up a camera to look at the rear suspension, and drive around. Give it some gas and stuff, see if the leaves are wrappping bad or anything.

Do you know what leafs are on the truck? Kinda look like Deavers j66 due to (10?) individual leafs.

 

No I don't know what leafs are on it but that'd be nice to find out as well! The previous owner also bought it built and let it sit, he didn't have the build sheet for it.

I also want to change the rear shock setup to remove the bedcage and get my bedspace back, but again... The traction bars are in the way for that too

 

My guess would be the original installer of the suspention on the truck wanted to make it look like he had a linked rear setup like a trophy truck and get BRO points...

Id take them off and drive around town a bit, making sure something doesnt feel out of place.

They will just get in the way and drag on stuff if you do more rock crawling than jumping and high speed stuff.

 

That bed cage makes me cringe by how much space it is taking up, let alone the massive holes in the middle of the bed. I would say take off the traction bars and remove the bed cage. If you already have long travel up front, I would look into a spring under axle (SUA) conversion and a low profile bed cage. Your shocks look like they are 14", you can reuse them with a SUA kit and be limited on travel if you want to save some coin. You can also mount your shocks on the outside of your frame rails when you ditch the traction bars.

I use my truck for all kinds of stuff when I am not going offroad. I can fit washers/ dryers, I even fit full 4x8 sheets of plywood by resting on the shock cage and then the other end on the tailgate. Here is the low profile bed cage that I have.

 

Concentric ... My idea is to remove the cage and get some hoops on the outside of the frame, sell these with the cage and get some shorter shocks? Again I don't plan on jumps, just kinda wanting flex and keep the front LT. It's a total chaos 3.5 up front.

Thanks for the input on the cage idea though! May end up that route to save some coin

 

Could I not keep it SOA, remove the traction bars, add shock hoops under the bed and still use these shocks? They look like they'd still be the proper length... The truck has glass fenders all the way around so there should be plenty of room.

 

If you go with a SUA conversion, you will have all the flex. I have the chaos +3.5 up front and the dmz SUA kit in the rear with 16" bypasses. I mostly use my truck for exploring/ wheeling now. I find that I get stuck less often since my wheels (especially the rear) are in contact with the ground due to the added amount of travel. Its somewhat misinformation that you can just jump your truck with long travel. I advise against it unless you have a cage. It just flexes/ bends the stock frame if not reinforced.

Its the best option might since you already have long travel up front.

 

I was trying to avoid having to dump money into a SUA kit for now, plus keep some clearance under the axle. While I totally understand more flex comes from SUA I think I should be somewhat ok for my intended use keeping SOA. I just need to move the damn shocks outwards to get my bed back